Despair on the Fourth
by Amicus Bonus
Summary: André had a tragic experience five years ago on the Fourth of July, and still feels the pain from that fateful day today. Who will be there to comfort him, and mend his heart? Oneshot, Tandré.


**Okay, I think this story is a bit of a divergence from my normal writing style. It almost fuses my normal style with another, simpler style that I'm experimenting with. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this story, and I think it came out really well. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor do I claim any affiliation with the TV show, "Victorious."  
**

Beautiful colors of blue, green, purple, red, and white lit the sky as the fireworks flew on the fourth of July. Almost everyone in Hollywood brought their lawn chairs out to their patios to watch the fireworks light up the evening sky.

Outside her home, Tori Vega sat and watched with such awe and amazement as the different patterns formed with the explosions in the air. She was always mesmerized by fireworks. She loved the colors they brought, and the shapes and starbursts they became. However, as she was watching on the beautiful, balmy night, Tori felt lonely, for she had no one's company as she reclined and kept her eyes to the sky. Trina and her parents were never very fond of Independence Day festivities, and all of her friends were either at family picnics or out of state for the weekend. At least, all but one friend was unavailable. Tori had invited André Harris, her best friend, to hang out with her that night. However, this night was very painful to André.

"Hello," André said as he answered his cell phone.

"Hey André," Tori replied from the other end. "I wanted to call and see if you were busy tonight. I wanted to know if you could come and watch the fireworks outside my house with me."

"Oh gee, Tori, thanks for inviting me," André responded, "but I'm not really in the mood. I don't really like the fourth of July."

"Why not?" Tori asked, surprised that her best friend felt bored on this great celebration.

"I really don't want to talk about it," André replied.

Tori caught the hint of a sob in André's voice. It didn't vocalize in a pronounced way, but Tori could tell it was there.

"André, you're my best friend, you know you can tell me anything," Tori said trying to comfort him.

"I can't do it over the phone, Tori," André said, his sobs becoming more pronounced in his voice.

"If I go over there, will you talk to me?" Tori asked.

"Sure, I will," André responded, now truly sobbing.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Tori said. As she hung up the phone, she ran into the house and told her parents that she was going over to André's. Then, grabbing the keys to her Ford Taurus, she rushed to her car, and drove the five miles between her home and André's home. After parallel parking on the curb, she walked up the path to André's front door and knocked. André's mother opened the door, and greeted Tori sweetly. She told Tori that André was up in his room, but that he was very upset. Then, thanking Mrs. Harris, Tori climbed the stairs up to the second floor, then came to André's room. She knocked softly, and heard André mumble to her, saying to come in.

"Hi André," Tori greeted. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked, concern filling her voice.

"Oh Tori, this is such a painful day for me. I don't really want to talk about it," he said, despair lacing his voice.

André started to cry even harder, and tears began to fall fast from his eyes. Tori had never seen her best friend reduced to such emotion, and she knew that she needed to help. She walked slowly and solemnly over to his bed where he sat, and sat next to him. Then, putting her arms around him, allowed him to cry into her shoulder as she tightly embraced him. André cried hard for quite some time as Tori held him. After twenty minutes, André began to calm down, and was able to speak clearly again.

"I'm sorry, Tori," André said, "this day just brought me so much pain."

"André please, talk to me," Tori said, worry filling her voice.

"Well," André said, starting to tear up again, "five years ago, my family threw a huge barbeque for the fourth. My whole family and lots of my friends came. My dad even bought fireworks from a trader in Oregon when he went there on a business trip."

"Isn't that illegal without a license?" Tori asked.

"Yes, but he did it anyway. We all thought it would be fun to set off some fireworks when it got dark outside that night. The party was awesome, and finally it came time for the main event, the fireworks show." At this point, André began to sob again. Tori pulled him a little closer to her as she tightened her embrace around him. She then took one hand away from the hug and used it to rub André's back soothingly.

"Go on," Tori encouraged, "tell me what happened."

"Well, my dad let each member of our family light one firecracker. It was a lot of fun, until my little sister went over to light one," André stated. His voice was starting to break up and crack as he told Tori his story. He began to cry hard once again.

"Tori, as she lit the firework, she slipped on the slightly wet grass. Her leg hit the bottle which held the rocket, and the bottle fell and the mouth faced her," André told her, breaking up while narrating his story. Tori sat and continued to rub his back, tears beginning to sting her eyes with the emotion that came through André's voice. "Tori, the firecracker launched and flew right at her. Then, it hit her, and killed her. The doctors at the hospital tried everything they could to revive her, but the rocket hit a major artery in her chest, and she lost too much blood," André finished, struggling with breaks and sobs in between every word. "She was my best friend, my sister. Why did she have to go? I loved her so much," André cried out with despair.

Tori felt such sympathy for André. She always thought he was an only child. But now, she could see why he never talked about her sister.

"André," Tori began, "I had no idea…I mean, that's just tragic."

Tori had no idea what to say at that point. She decided to keep a tight embrace around André and to pour all her love for her best friend into that warm hug. She tried to come up with something to say in her head. Finally, she felt that she was able to speak.

"André, I know you loved your sister, and I know that her death must have really hurt you. But you can't let that take away from enjoying the day. I know that your sister loved you, and still loves you very much. I think she would want you to learn from her mistake, and to still enjoy the day. She doesn't want you to feel despair and sadness because of her, André. She wants you to go out and have fun. She wants you to do what she never got to do. And, most importantly, she wants you to be happy." Tori spoke to André solemnly, trying to comfort him.

"I just feel so unloved, so abandoned right now, Tori. I can't enjoy this day without feeling loved."

"André, you're my best friend. You know that I love you. I'm here now to bring you the love that your sister wants you to have today. You shouldn't feel abandoned now, you know your sister is always with you, and you know that I'm always here for you," Tori said with a small, sympathetic smile, giving all her love to André.

Upon hearing Tori's words, André started to calm down.

"Thanks, Tori," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes, "thanks for being my best friend, and thanks for always being here for me. I love you, too."

Finally, Tori saw André smile, seeing the happiness that she knew he once felt on that day.

"Come on," Tori said, "let's go watch the fireworks."

Tori took André's hand and led him out to his patio, where the sky was lit up with beautiful, radiant colors. Tori and André sat on adjacent chairs at the picnic table on the patio.

"I'm always here for you André, no matter what," Tori said, taking hold of his hand.

André smiled at Tori's heartfelt statement, and squeezed her hand tightly, thanking her, and returning her promise. For the rest of the night, they sat outside, hand-in-hand, watching the fireworks in the night sky. André's heart was finally mended, and he felt a renewed sense of love in his heart. It was all thanks to one special girl, his best friend, Tori Vega.

**Well, that's it! Hope you liked it! Reviews are always appreciated.**

**Happy Fourth of July everyone!**

**Pax Tecum,**

**Amicus Bonus  
**


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